Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 14.djvu/846

thirteenth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, declared that the insurrection in the State of Tennessee had been suppressed, and that the authority of the United States therein was undisputed, and such United States officers as had been duly commissioned were in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions;

And Whereas, the President of the United States, by further proclamation issued on the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, did promulgate and declare that there no longer existed any armed resistance of misguided citizens or others to the authority of the United States in any or in all the States before mentioned, excepting only the State of Texas, and did further promulgate and declare that the laws could be sustained and enforced in the several States before mentioned, except Texas, by the proper civil authorities, State or Federal, and that the people of the said States, except Texas, are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed or will conform, in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting slavery within the jurisdiction of the United States;

And did Further Declare, in the same proclamation that it is the manifest determination of the American people that no State, of its own will, has a right or power to go out of, or separate itself from, or be separated from the American Union; and that, therefore, each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States;

And did Further Declare, in the same last-mentioned proclamation, that the several aforementioned States, excepting Texas, had in the manner aforesaid given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity;

And Whereas, the President of the United States in the same proclamation did further declare, that it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that the people who have revolted and who have been overcome and subdued, must be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends, or else they must be held by absolute military power or devastated so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and to freedom;

And Whereas, the President did, in the same proclamation further declare, that the Constitution of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States, and not as Territories dependencies, provinces, or protectorates;

And Further, that such constituent States must necessarily be, and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are, made equals and placed upon a like footing as to political rights immunities, dignity, and power with the several States with which they are united;

And did Further Declare, that the observance of political equality, as a principle of right and justice, is well calculated to encourage the people of the before-named States, except Texas, to become more and more constant and persevering in their new allegiance;

And Whereas, the President did further declare, that standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suppression of the writ of habeas corpus are in times of peace dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual right of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed except in cases of actual necessity for repelling invasion and suppressing insurrection or rebellion;

And the President did Further, in the same proclamation, declare that the policy of the Government of the United States from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression had been conducted in conformity with the principles in the last-named proclamation recited;

And Whereas, the President, in the said proclamation, of the thirteenth of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, upon the grounds therein stated and herein before recited, did then and thereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the several States before named, except in Texas, was at an end, and was therefore to be so regarded;

And Whereas, subsequently to the said second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, the insurrection in the State of Texas has been completely and everywhere suppressed and ended, and the authority of the United States has been successfully and completely established in the said State of Texas and now remains therein unassisted and undisputed, and such of the proper United States officers as have been duly commissioned within the limits of the said State are now in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions;